Dear Evan Hansen is a masterpiece musical that burst onto Broadway in 2016. The Tony-winning musical finally landed in South Korea on March 28th. Have you ever felt like nobody was there? Then, why not hold hands with the first Korean Evan with the Sungkyun Times (SKT) this spring?
Dear Evan Hansen, …
- The Musical Masterpiece
Dear Evan Hansen, a musical of hope and comfort, first opened its stage on Broadway in 2016. Winner of six Tony Awards, Grammy Awards, and Olivier Awards for Best Musical, it quickly became a popular Broadway show. Through the theme of social anxiety disorder, Dear Evan Hansen seeks to provide solace for the loneliness that anyone can experience, highlighting the importance of communication and solidarity. The New Yorker also declared the musical a “profound evocation of how the need to belong can be as ugly as the need to exclude.” Moreover, Dear Evan Hansen is renowned for its melodic numbers, such as Waving through a Window, For Forever, and You Will Be Found. The numbers are written and composed by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, also known as the genius Broadway duo, the so-called Pasek and Paul. The Tony Award-winning songwriter duo’s work includes La La Land and The Greatest Showman, with Dear Evan Hansen marking the start of their great success. Despite garnering significant empathy, Steven Levenson’s book was criticized for its awkward direction when adapted into a film in 2021. However, news of the South Korean premiere in March 2023 was enough to excite domestic musical fans.
- Synopsis (*Spoiler Alert)
Evan Hansen, a lonely teenager with social anxiety disorder, is assigned to write letters to himself by his therapist. Evan starts to write letters beginning with “Dear Evan Hansen,” until one day, Connor Murphy, a depressed highschooler and a drug user, takes his letter away. Connor soon commits suicide, and Connor’s parents mistake Evan’s letter for their son’s suicide note. Evan, raised by his mother, a nurse, starts lying to fulfill his deprivation of love and attention. However, his lies only grow…
Today Is Going to Be a Good Day
- And Here Is Why
The key to Dear Evan Hansen is the delicate expression and conveyance of emotion. It appeals to the loneliness within a group, such as in a family, school, or workplace, where everyone can sympathize. For sensitively dealing with intimate emotions yet not losing its humor, NBC Nightly News praised the musical as “an anthem resonating on Broadway and beyond.” As a masterpiece from the iconic Broadway duo, the musical portrays captivating numbers and creative stage direction. Waving through a Window, a number conveying Evan’s loneliness and anxiety, is portrayed by people overlooking Evan. In Sincerely, Me, the screens surrounding Evan represent the numerous lies and social media that he enclosed himself in. Most importantly, the musical closely addresses intimate issues often left behind in musicals, such as social anxiety and suicide, which provides support for all audiences. The deep and personal concerns transmitted through the performance certainly filled the theaters with tears.
- The Next Steps
Unfortunately, unlike its great success as a musical, the film adaptation was a significant failure. Forbes expressed their disappointment by describing the movie as “the critically drubbed musical adaptation of Tony-winning Broadway show. ”The elaborate conveyance of emotions, the key to the show being absent on screen, has failed to appear in the film adaptation. The New York Times criticized the work as “awkwardly directed” and a “troubling work,” which was also the reason for Forbes’ low average rating of 4.8 out of 10. These criticisms led to a noticeable frustration among musical fans, especially Korean fans, who could not attend the show. Nonetheless, many Korean fans were delighted with the South Korean premiere, reflected in the quick sellout of the first ticket opening on February 14th. Dear Evan Hansen, running from March 28th to June 23rd, features three competent musical actors, Kim Sung-kyu, Park Kanghyun, and Lim Kyu-hyung in the role of Evan. Kim Sungkyu expressed his honor in an interview with The Musical last January, “It is an honor to be part of the premiere, and I will do my best to portray the character of Evan.” Evan’s mother, Heidi Hansen, will be brought to life by Kim Sun-young and Shin Young-sook. As for direction, Park So-young, known for directing the musical Red Book, is in charge. Attention is growing regarding the Korean adaptation of the Broadway hit.
Sincerely, Your Best and Dearest Friend: Me
- Waving through a Window
While I’m watch, watch, watching people pass
I’m waving through a window, oh
Can anybody see, is anybody waving back at me?
- For Forever
All we see is sky for forever
We let the world pass by for forever
Feels like we could go on for forever this way
- Sincerely, Me
‘Cause all that it takes is a little reinvention
It’s easy to change if you give it your attention
All you gotta do is just believe you can be who you want to be
